How do some of the most recognizable Canadian symbols – Tim Horton’s, Hockey Night in Canada, the CBC, and others –  play an organizing role in shaping and influencing our contemporary understanding of what it means to be Canadian? This theme lies at the core of a new book co-authored by Trent University sociology professor Dr. Jim Cosgrave.

Desiring Canada: CBC Contests, Hockey Violence, and Other Stately Pleasures (University of Toronto Press) coauthored by Dr. Cosgrave with sociologist Patricia Cormack of St. Francis Xavier University, takes on a number of recognizable Canadian symbols and practices, such as CBC contests, hockey and hockey violence, state-owned gambling, Tim Hortons, and CBC television comedy and explores the connections between these symbols of Canadian identity, media, and the Canadian state, and how they shape our understanding of being Canadian.

The book further explores whose definition of ‘Canadian’ these symbols, seen across the country on television and other media, represent and asks the question: Do we create our own impressions of Canadian identity, or are they created for us?

“We discovered through our research that we had an interesting book topic,” says Dr. Cosgrave. “Patricia was working on the relationship of Tim Hortons to the production of Canadian identity, and I was working on the legitimation and expansion of gambling in Canada by the State, so we realized we had a larger topic to write about, and that was how Canadian identity is generated through everyday practices and how the state often plays a role in those practices. But we also needed to discuss how the state works through pleasure, and not just through regulation or power.  The way the state is intertwined with these practices is often overlooked.”

Some of the issues dealt with in the book include: how have Tim Hortons and other corporations been successful at creating and exploiting Canadian identity; why doesn’t the state intrude on professional hockey violence, and what is the significance of Canadian comedy programs, such as The Rick Mercer Report on the state-owned broadcaster, the CBC?

“Our book is a serious sociological analysis of these recognizably Canadian things, but due to this recognizability, the book should also appeal to the educated reader interested in Canada,” Dr. Cosgrave explains, adding, “If you look at Rick Mercer for example, he is often critical of politicians, but much of the The Rick Mercer Report’s content is dedicated to supporting the state and state agencies. And of course, it is supported by the state broadcaster, the CBC.”

Desiring Canada makes an intriguing case for the idea that Canadian identity is increasingly being organized around things that give us pleasure: coffee and doughnuts, hockey and hockey violence, television comedy and gambling and lotteries. Prof. Cosgrave points out, for example, that gambling is still an important ongoing issue in the Canadian provinces, a clear case of provincial governments wanting citizens to have “fun,” but which is still contentious as the politics surrounding the proposed Toronto casino indicated.

Speaking of the book, Dr. Cosgrave adds: “The book was enjoyable to write. I was able to draw on my knowledge of NHL hockey for example, but more importantly the chapter on hockey offers a serious analysis of the significance of hockey violence and its place in the production of Canadian identity: this violence is ritually celebrated on Hockey Night in Canada programs—hockey is the arena for a unique domestic and domesticated violence.”

Dr. Jim Cosgrave began teaching at Trent in 1996 and is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at Trent University Oshawa. His research on gambling’s connections to culture, consumption, globalization, and the state places him at the forefront of the recent Ontario gambling debate. Dr. Cosgrave’s previous books include: The Sociology of Risk and Gambling Reader (editor) and Casino State: Legalized Gambling in Canada (co-editor).